The Neosho wrestling team cruised to two more dual victories while the McDonald County Mustangs went 1-1 on the night in a triangular with Webb City at McDonald County High School on Thursday.

The Wildcats downed the Mustangs 60-15 after destroying the Cardinals 71-3 to open the night. The Mustangs, meanwhile, downed the Cardinals 49-30 in another match.

The individual match of the night happened in the 220-pound weight class where McDonald County’s Jordan Moffett and Neosho’s Christian Lopez hooked it up in a battle of big men in one of the final matches of the evening. The match had fans from both teams on their feet at various stages as it went down to the wire. Moffett, ranked No. 2 in the state, and Lopez (No. 3) was a much anticipated match that lived up to its billing.

After Lopez grabbed a 1-0 lead early in the second period, the score remained the same as both wrestlers carefully sized the other in a rather uneventful start to the match. Lopez elected to allow an escape to start the third period, however, in order to stand both wrestlers up, which awarded a point to Moffett and tied it 1-1.

Lopez wouldn’t get his takedown, however, and the match went into overtime, where Moffett scored a takedown to win it, 3-1.

“I think that’s one of those matches that could have gone either way,” Mustangs coach Josh Factor said. “Christian Lopez is a great wrestler. He’s definitely closed the gap on Jordan and (Jordan) has got some work to do in front of him to stay on top.”

Both Factor and Neosho coach Jeremy Phillips cited the need for their teams to eliminate allowing bonus points to opponents as districts near. With the state tournament looming on Feb. 14, there’s little time to waste for improvement.

“I think when you break it down individually we had some key wins that are definitely going to help our guys out going into district seedings, but we’ve still got a long month ahead of us,” Factor said.

Phillips echoed that message.

“We emphasize bonus points as far as getting them and giving them up,” Phillips said. “We can’t afford to give them up like we did tonight and win close battles. That’s what’s going to help us win battles in the future. It’s just a matter of these guys evaluating after these duals what’s working, what’s not working and attacking those targets with the mindset that we’re trying to get better each and every day.”

Results for the Mustangs, with McDonald County wrestlers listed first are: